Directions in Engineering Research An Assessment of Opportunities and Needs (1987) / Chapter Skim
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7. Materials Systems Research in the United States: An Overview
7. Materials Systems Research in the United States: An Overview
Pages 239-280
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In the United States the science of materials has developed into a recognized discipline with its own group of practitioners, facilities, societies, meetings, and publications. Large amounts of money are spent on basic scientific research in the materials field.
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Thus, among the conclusions reached in the report the following seven are particularly important: 1. We must increase the emphasis on engineering research in: advanced ceramics; semiconducting materials; magnetic materials; polymers; high-performance composites; performance-driven metallic materials; and biomaterials.
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This amount could purchase roughly a dozen each of facilities for research on composites processing, semiconductor processing, and molecular beam epitaxy or organometallic chemical vapor deposition.
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addressed questions important to the overall health of the materials field, including policy, research funcling, and human resources issues. BACKGROUND At the outset, it is important to emphasize that the field of materials science and engineering has undergone a fundamental
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established several interdisciplinary laboratories in materials sciences and engineering at major American universities over two decades ago. These Materials Research Laboratories, with the continuing support of the National Science Foundation (NSF)
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Therefore, it ~ essential to the nation's general welfare that a strong national materials technology base be maintainer!
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Given those criteria, we can list the high-priority areas that, in our opinion, are especially well positioned for immediate and intensive engineering research. EMERGING RESEARCH AREAS Seven classes of materials that lead to specific end uses need the focused attention of the engineering research community.
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tribology; computer modeling; and materials property data base. The remainder of this section is devoted to a discussion of these research areas.
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Areas of advanced ceramics more closely allied to process technology than to ceramics per se may play additional functional roles. For example, improved control over pore structure has opened up new routes for selective catalysis, as well as novel separations based on selective adsorption.
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From page 248... ...
This change is clue to improvements in the predominant technology based on powder processing and to new chemical routes that combine or bypass some of the traditional steps. Ceramic processing increasingly needs to be studied as a system extending from the raw material to the finished product, with product design requirements taken into account by the processor and processing limitations taken into account by the designer.
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From page 249... ...
In the area of optoelectronics, for example, ITI-V quantum-well heterostructures and superiattices promise to have a profound effect. With the advent of advanced crystal growth techniques such as molecular beam epitaxy and organometallic chemical vapor deposition, radically new structures have become available, with profound device applications.
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Research in fine-line lithography and dry etching, surface and interface effects, hot carrier transport, new conductor and contact materials, and multilayer growth of silicon and GaAs with interspersed insulators will be required. Magnetic Materials Magnetic materials are an integral part of our modern industria]
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From page 251... ...
Since the mid-1970s, American manufacturers have looked increasingly to foreign sources for newer, better, and cheaper magnetic materials and devices. Nations such as Japan have invested far more than the United States has in the R&D needed to advance the performance of magnetic materials.
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The processing of magnetic materials in general has become an important, high-tech field toward which a change in national priorities is in order. Polymers Over the past 50 years the introduction of polymers for structural, engineering, packaging, elastomeric, and fiber applications has been one of the spectacular changes in the history of materials technology.
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The broadened application of composite materials encompasses a wider range of reinforcing geometries and binders, commonly including ceramics and metals. These combinations may yield performance characteristics that cannot be achieved by the various components acting individually.
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. Although many metallic materials may someday be replaced by ceramics, composites, and polymers, modern metals will be an important part of most high-performance structures for the foreseeable future.
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Specific areas needing improvement are corrosion resistance (in metals) ; biodegradation of polymers; the development of nonthrombogenic surfaces for prosthetic materials to prevent blood clotting; design of device structures to reduce hemolysis (destruction of red blood celIs)
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Hence, we include electronic materials and the manufacture of materials associated with biotechnology, including such processing steps as bioseparations. (See the relevant reports of other panels of the Engineering Research Board, as well as the board's own report.)
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In order to calculate life-cycle cost accurately, documented models of the lifetime and ultimate failure mechanisms of modern materials are needed. This requirement points to several aspects of time-dependent behavior as promising areas for research: models for failure mechanisms; corrosion of monolithic metallic materials; environmental degradation of composites, polymers, and ceramics; .
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Computer modeling in general has not been adequately developed as a materiab systems research tool, and continues to offer great promise for materials process development. Materials Property Data Base Existing data bases are inadequate for characterizing both physical and mechanical properties of modern materials.
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Issues Determining the Health of Materials Systems Research NEED FOR PRIORITIES Materials science and engineering issues are pervasive in engineering applications, yet the materials community is fragmented by its very range. Various mission-oriented government agencies support overlapping programs of materials research.
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The same statistical difficulties are found in attempting to assess student enrollments, degrees, and faculty numbers and specializations within the materials field. Better data on a national basis are certainly needed to support policy studies in this crucial field.
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SOURCE: COMAT, 1984. Given the uncertainties, the main point to be made with regard to funding in the materials field is not whether there is enough money spent, but whether it ~ spent in the right places, whether the balance between materials science and engineering research funding (to the extent that they can be clearly differentiated)
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influence the allocation of funding in the materials field. The pane!
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; 2. Intermediate: local facilities shared among users at a single location (e.g., electron microscopes, lasers, molecular-beam epitaxy or chemical vapor deposition apparatus, clean rooms, specialized magnets, mid-size computers, etc.~; and 3.
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To be sure, the new concept of funding major cross-disciplinary research centers is intended to be a step ~ this direction. The Center for Advanced Materials at the University of California at Berkeley and the NSF Engineering Research Centers at the University of Delaware and the University of California at Santa Barbara have the potential to make strong contributions in the materials processing area.
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On the other hand, restrictions and impediments to such research and education can result in an eventual degradation of the economic and defense enterprises which these agencies are charged with supporting. MISSION ORIENTATION AND OVERMANAGEMENT Federal funding of university research in the postwar period has transformed engineering colleges into major research institutions.
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because the basic work on interface properties has not been done in detail. Researchers should instead be encouraged to look carefully at the basic materials properties before trying to develop devices.
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In many cases, considerable time is required to bring projects to completion. Particularly in the areas of fundamental materials research and development of new processes, stable research funding over Tong periods of time (e.g., 5 years)
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Consideration is being given at the White House to establishing these policies in all other federal agencies. Thus, for the time being, the classification prior to the granting of a DOD research contract is the deciding factor, and most universities will not undertake classified work.
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Data on total enrollments are also difficult to pin down, because the materials field is highly interdisciplinary. Therefore, this section largely summarizes the panel's general impressions on the availability and characteristics of students in materials research fields' as compared with engineering and science students generally.
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Indeed, some enter the materials field through double-major programs in conjunction with mechanical, aerospace, or other engineering majors. Students who pursue advanced study tend to proceed entirely through the Ph.D.
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and Ph.D. graduates in the materials field is, as is suggested earlier, quite low.
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The pane! believes that the growing dependence of the nation's economy on new materials ensures a long-term increase in demand for doctoral-level researchers in every area of the materials field, for both industry and academe.
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New programs are needed in the materials field to meet the emerging demand. For new graduate programs to be most elective, they should generally be specialized.
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Two examples of such directions are advanced ceramics and electronic materials. Even in the few institutions in which these relatively new activities began and are now expanding, there are not enough faculty.
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faculty in materials processing (American Society for Metals, 1985~. The absolute numbers cannot be assumed to be accurate (see, for example, the notation regarding ceramic processing)
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Programs that have no such role models often find it harder to present a convincing case for their environment being "penetrable." These programs may have more difficulty recruiting young faculty. Continuing efforts should be made by universities to improve the attractiveness of academic life for entry-levelfaculty, especially in emerging or high-priority areas such as electronic materials, advanced ceramics, and processing.
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Magnetic Materials (NMAB-426~. Report of the Committee on Magnetic Materials, National Materials Advisory Board.
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A Competitive Assessment of the U.S. Advanced Ceramics Industry (NTIS-PB84-162288~.
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Because that is not practical, we hope nevertheless that this small acknowledgment might convey our gratitude. Responses on aspects of materials systems research were received from individuals representing 46 different organizations, listed in Table A: 22 universities (including 9 represented by recipients of NSF Presidential Young Investigator Awards)
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AGENCIES AND LABORATORIES Air Force Institute of Technology Air Force Office of Scientific Research Army Materials and Mechanical Research Center Army Research Office Brookhaven National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASA Langley Research Center NASA Lewis Research Center Naval Research Laboratory Office of Naval Research Oak Ridge National Laboratory Sandia National Laboratory
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